Today our Foodmaster, Bill Alexiou-Hucker, was back in the kitchen. He was assisted by one of the ‘canapé masters’, Peter Manners. Today was always going to be a bit of fun as the wines were odds and sods that had been collected in the REX wine cabinet left over from other lunches.

Canapés. Peter was responsible for the canapés today and he gave us three. In no particular order, there were wonderfully handmade pastry cones filled with a salmon mousse, home-made pate on a biscuit base and ‘elephant ears’ or palmiers baked and filled with a mushroom mixture. All three were tasty and of course there were none remaining by the time we sat down at 1 pm. Have a look at the photograph above of the work that went into making the pastry cones and the wooden cone-holder knocked up by Peter specifically for the dish.

Aperitif wine. We enjoyed a selection of seven wines ranging from Rieslings to Semillons to Chardonnays. Not everyone got a taste of every bottle of course, but it certainly is stimulated conversation and was a bit of fun.

Main Course. Bill being a first-class seafood man served us octopus. Each octopus weighed about 500 g and they were each halved so that we had a very well sized portion. The octopus had been slow cooked in white wine for about 4 hours with bay leaves and tomatoes. The octopus was served on polenta with oregano. It was full of flavour and extraordinarily tender.

The Wines. Far too many wines to list today, but they varied from average quality to very high quality. Commentary from members was obviously table-based but the Tyrrells Old Patch, Orlando St Hugo, Seppelts Benno and a Sardinian Cannanou (Grenache) were well thought of. Eclectic and enjoyed by the majority. Chilly Hargraves as winemaster of the day did a great job balancing the wine sets on each table.

Cheese and coffee. James Healey selected for us today a Maffra cloth-aged cheddar from Gippsland. The presentation of this cheese in the black cloth is stunning. See the photograph above. Maffra cheeses are well-known, as is their handmade traditional method and is arguably Australia’s best cheddar although many would argue Pyengana from Tasmania was a more interesting cheese. It was moist and slightly crumbly and was another wonderful choice by James.

Spencer Ferrier in absentia provided Yirgacheffe coffee from Sidama in Southern Ethiopia. Light to medium body it is always a pleasant coffee and works well in the French press.

In the absence of the president today, the VP Nick Reynolds closed the lunch complementing Bill on once again doing a great job.